Caloundra, Queensland
13 April 1942
My Alice,
We've made it to Queensland safe; Addy has already settled in like she owns the place, but it's taking me a little longer than our spitfire mascot. After three weeks of leave, I want to go back - I want to be with you, sweetheart. I know, I know, I made a commitment to the army for the duration of the war, but I didn't realize just how hard that would be once I got to see you again. At least I can daydream about being with you.
When is your exam? I suppose you'll already be done with it by the time you get this letter - did you ace it? What am I talking about, of course you did, you always do and your hard work will pay off; I look forward to the day I can call you Dr. Harvey, sweetheart.
No word on where we're going, I think we'll stay here for a bit - the higher-ups are worried about potential invasions, especially after Darwin. I heard MacArthur, the American general, was ordered to flee the Philippines; things look a little dire and the Japanese definitely caught us with our pants around our ankles, but we'll just have to hang on until things get better.
Things have to get better, I want to take you on so many dates.
Since coming back from leave there are a lot of new faces around here - seems December's attacks have had a monumental effect on our enlistment numbers. Of course, a lot of the newer faces are also American. There have been some rumblings between our ranks (mostly over pay, but I won't get into that here), but overall they're easier to get along with than the Brits.
The boys have asked about you and us, I hope you don't mind that I said we were dating; they had some teasing, but overall are happy for us, sweetheart. A lot of them came back with beaus and sweethearts of their own - some even got married! We had no idea with most of them - I guess I wasn't the only one with a romantic pen pal.
How's everyone doing back home?
Yours,
Matthew